Dead Man's Switch

How can I contact you?

How does the service work?

The service works thus: You write some messages and specify when you want Dead Man's Switch to check up on you. These
dates are called "intervals". For example, for intervals of "15, 30, 60", Dead Man's Switch will email you 15 and 30
days after your last checkin. If you don't check in again in that period of time, all your messages will be sent to the
message recipient(s) 60 days after your last checkin.

How can I add a message?

To add a message, go to your home page by the link on the toolbar on top after logging in
and click write a new message. Fill in the required fields and press "save message".

How can I become a premium member?

You can become a premium member by visiting the
Plans and pricing page after you have created an
account.

How can I test the service?

To test the service, add a new message and, when asked to specify the intervals on which you would like to be contacted,
select "Test message". This will make Dead Man's Switch contact you the next day to make sure you are responsive and
send the email to the recipient(s) you have specified one day after that if you do not respond. This way, you do not
have to wait for the full two months to test the service, but a mere two days.

How can I be sure you'll outlive me?

We don't have to outlive you! If the service shuts down while you're alive,
we'll send you an email well in advance so you can switch services. That said,
the service has been running successfully since 2007.

How can I specify my own intervals?

You can specify your own intervals if you become a
Premium member. If you become a Premium member, the
extra options for intervals will become available to you.

How do the premium member intervals work?

Intervals work like this: All numbers except the last are days to email you on since your last checkin.
The last number is when to send out your messages, in days after the last checkin. For example, if you enter 3, 19, 22, 50,
Dead Man's Switch will email you 3 days after your last checkin, then 19 days later, then 22, and finally send all your
emails 50 days after your last checkin.

If you check back in at any point before 50 days, the timer resets.

How can I send the same message to many people?

If you would like to send a message to many people at the same time just add
multiple addresses in the "recipients" field, separated by a comma. There is
a limit to how many people per message you can add if you are a regular user.

Is this service secure?

To ensure that your messages will not be read by anyone other than the intended
recipient, the messages are only ever stored securely on our servers. The
messages are destroyed after they are sent, and you can delete them at any time.

If this is not enough, you can encrypt your messages using symmetric or
asymmetric encryption using widely available software like PGP or GPG. this will
ensure that no-one other than the intended recipient will ever be able to see
the contents of your message.

That having been said, this service is meant for casual use by the average
person. Please don't use the service if you need strong guarantees of privacy,
e.g. if you are a whistleblower or any similar life-and-death situation. It is
NOT meant to safeguard against high-value messages.